A/N: Good point there: Biginferno. However, here's the thing. While I'll keep to pre-Last Movie canon pretty well for the most part; you can write fanficion in any way you want. Sure, dead characters will stay dead, but if there's anything good or tangible, it's up for grabs.

—

The day after Naruto claimed Hinata as a girlfriend, he was out shopping when he heard Kurama in his head.

"One down, eight to go. Let's next find Sakura Haruno." Naruto stiffed and sweated slightly.

"Let's rather not. I may have had a crush on her as a kid, she loves Sasuke. She's never had feelings for me. I don't want to get in the way between her and him since she's waiting for his return."

"Then what do you propose?" The tailed beast asked. Before he could respond, he heard someone call his name. He turned to see the Yamanaka household/flower shop. He saw Ino's mother waving at him. He walked up to the shop.

"Hello, Mrs. Yamanaka. What is it?" She looked sad and worried.

"It's my daughter, Ino. Ever since her father died she's been wilting like a flower without sunshine and too much water. Everybody has mourned their lost ones, but she's still actively grieving. Not even Sakura or Shikamaru could help." She then look thoughtful for a second. "Then again, given how he views women it shouldn't be surprising he failed." Naruto chuckled by his friends' lazy tendencies and frustrations towards women. "When I saw you though, I figured, "why not? Her best friends didn't work and I never had the best relationship with her."

"Well, I'll certainly give it a shot." Naruto said, shrugging.

"Thank you. If you succeed, all flowers you buy will be free." She said gratefully. Naruto nodded as he was led to her room. Knocking on the door, she called to her daughter, "Ino, a friend had come to see you." She opened the door allowing Naruto in. The door closed behind him as he saw a grief stricken, maybe full blown depressed Ino in her bed under blankets. He could only see her platinum blonde hair through the barely let through light.

"Ino, how are you doing?" He asked in concern.

"Leave me alone, Naruto. If Sakura couldn't help me then how could you help?" She asked weakly.

"Probably because I know where you're coming from." Naruto suggested. Ino turned to him, letting him see that her cheeks were slightly sunken in and her eyes both bloodshot and had bags.

"You may have lost your parents, but you lost them shortly after birth. I've known my dad my whole living life. You don't know what it's like to lose a father while knowing them." She coldly stated. Naruto looked hurt, but didn't hold it against her. He walked to her bed and sat down near her.

"You're right. I don't know. I've only interacted with my dad during the war mostly and Iruka-sensei had been more like a teacher to me than an any sort of father. But I do know what it's like to lose a father figure. Sure, I've only known him a couple of years personally, but my father figure is Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto stated. There was a small silence before she asked,

"The one you call "Pervy-sage?" She questioned sarcasticly. Naruto chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah, he was quite a womanizer, but he had put me on the path to change the world. Bring the world to a state of peace and acceptance. When I learned of his loss, I've pretty much sulked around for nearly a whole day. Not even ramen could cheer me up. But with the help of Iruka-sensei and Shikamaru, I was able to get my head on straight. I don't know if he told you, but he said we need to stop sulking and stand up, because we'll become the adults, and have our own students, or children. He didn't say that exactly, but you get the idea. Iruka-sensei even told me that those that fallen still watch over us, and that we should take pride they took pride in us. You get what I'm saying?" Naruto asked. Ino stared at him with tears in her eyes streaking down her face.

"I do understand. Thank you Naruto. I really needed to hear that. It'll take a while but I'll be able to get back to my normal self." Naruto nodded.

"You're welcome." He got off the bed and was about to walk out the room when he felt a hand on his trailing bandage hand.

"Wait." He turned to be kissed by Ino. Kurama's second right tail glowed, linking her to Naruto. Once they ended the kiss, she suggested, "Maybe once I recover we could go on a date sometime." Naruto chuckled.

"Sure. I wouldn't mind."

—-

A/N: I've looked up the symptoms of greiving so that I could be a little accurate even though I never felt this level of greif. I also knew that sex as a solution to greiving is not very realistic. I know it's short but this feels really good and had depth in my opinion. And as for why I didn't go for the second obvious choice of Sakura, it just didn't feel right. She's waiting for Sasuke at the point of the Shippuden finale and it felt wrong to cut that off. Not only that but I don't really know how to write a good tomboy character as the tvtropes website calls her. So she's not part of the harem. Also Sai won't be featured because I just never liked him all that much; at least character wise.